Transmission control mechanism



`Aug. l2, 1941-. H. w. PRICE Erm. 2,252,273

TRANSMISSION CONTROL MECHANISM Fiied Feb. 9, i939 TTORNEY.

Patented Aug. 12, 1941 TES TENTY FFHCE b TRANSMISSION ooNTRoL MECHANISMnai-01a W. Price and Een 1t. Price, south Bend,

Ind

Application February 9, 1939, Serial No. 255,379

(o1. vente) 1 Claim.

This invention relates in general to transmission 'operating means andin particular to means for operating the conventional three-speedsforward and reverse transmission of an automotive vehicle.

It is desirable, in the modern automotive Vehicle, to clear the driverscompartment of all unnecessary controls, such, for example, as the re1-atively long transmission operatingv shift'lever protruding from thefloor. Accordingly, one of the principal objects of the invention is toprovidea simple and compact shift rail selecting and actuating mechanismmounted lwithin the cover plate of the transmission and provided withrelatively short cranks extendingioutside Ithe cover plate and actuatedby force transmitting means, including a manually operable selectorlocated in the drivers compartment.

It is the principal object of the invention, however, to provide amechanism o-f few moving parts which may be secured to the casing of thetransmission and immediately adjacent the parallel shift rails, saidmechanismincluding a member bodily movable laterally of the rails toeffect the selection of a rail to be actuated, and further includingmeans for imparting an` angular movement to said member to thereby movethe selected rail and place the transmission in gear.

l Other objects of the invention and desirable details of 'constructionand combinations of parts will become apparent from the followingVdescription of a preferred embodiment, which description is taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawing,`in which:

Figure 1 is `a diagrammatic view of a transmission operating mechanismfor actuating the mechanism within the casing of the transmission, saidmechanism constituting our invention;

Figure 2 is a View disclosing, in section, part of a standardthree-speeds forward and reverse transmission and the transmissionoperating means constituting our invention; and

Figure 3 is another sectional view of the shift rail selecting andactuating mechanism constituting our invention, said view being taken onthe line 3--3 of Figure 2.

Referring now to Figure 2, disclosing a preferred embodiment of ourinvention, there is disclosed a portion of a standard three-speedsforward and reverse transmission i of conventional design. The first andreverse gear shift rail I3 of the transmission and its` juxtaposed highand second gear shift rail I2 are selectively operated by a member I4provided with a cylindricallyshaped end member I 6, adapted to fitWithin the oppositely disposed slots I8 in ithe rails'. The member I4.extends from a bodily movable tubular member 2D non-rotatably butslidably mounted upon the shift rail operating shaft 22 rotatably'mounted in `a projection 24 in the cover plate or transmission casing26. The tubular member 2i] together with the member I4 constitute whatmay be termed' a selector member." The member 28 is provided with arecessed portion 21 into which trunnionpins ZI of yoke members 28 and`29 nt, the latter being secured at theirlowerfends to a pin 38journaledat 32 and 34 in the casing 26 and protruding from the outer face of thecasing of the transmission. Upon rotating the pin 38 by means lof acrank 36 located outside the transmission casing, the rotatable yokes 28and 28 serve to slidethe selected memf when the crank 36 is rotated. Thecrank 36, pin

38 and yokes 28 and 29 together constitute a lever member. A crank 3l issecured to an end of the pin 22, also protruding from the outer face ofthe transmission casing. ThisV so-called cross-shift operationeffects aselection of one or the other of the shift rails prior to moving theselected rail v to mesh the gears.

As disclosedin Figure 1, there is provided a selector unit 38,comprising a tubular housing member 48 adjustably secured to the engineside of the dashboard 42. From a tubular plunger 44, slidably mountedwithin the member 4D, there projects a pin 46 adapted to t Within anH-shaped slot in said member. The plunger 44 is rotated by means of ahand operated knob 48 secured to the plunger by means of a rectangular-shaped pin 5i). Upon rotating the knob counterclockwise so that apointer 52 thereon is moved to a rst and reverse gear position, a crank54 secured to the pin 50 serves to move a cable 56 of a Bowden control58. The crank 35 is thus moved countercl'ockwise to bodily move or slidethe member 20 to the right, Figure 3, thereby moving the crank I4 tonext the end member I'B in the slot I8 within the first and reverse gearshift rail I3. It follows that clockwise rotation of the knob 48 servesto slide the member 2!) to the left, Figure 3, and to nest the member I6in the second and high gear shift rail I2 preparatory to establishingthe transmission either in second or high gear.

Describing now the mechanism for effecting an angular movement of theselector member I4 to move the selected rail and place the gears inmesh, the knob 48 is either pushed in or pulled out to slide the pin 46within one or the other of channels 6U and 62 of the H slot in themember 40. Describing the operation of placing the transmission in lowgear, movement of the knob toward the driver serves, through theintermediary of a Bowden control 64 comprising a conduit 66 and a cable68, to actuate a follow-up control valve located within the casing of adouble-actuating pressure differential operated motor 1I). Withoperation of the valve, the motor is energized and the crank 31 isactuated to rotate the selector member I4 clockwise. The low and reverseshift rail I3 is thus moved to the left, Figure 2, and the transmissionis placed in low gear.-

- The motor 1l is preferably vacuum operated, being connnected to theintake manifold 12 by a conduit 14. The motor 10, its follow-up controlvalve and the connections interconnecting the piston ofthe motor, thevalve, the selector unit 38 and the crank 31 are not disclosed in detailin this application, inasmuch as the invention herein presented islimited to the shift rail selecting and operating `means secured to thecasing of the transmission. However, this mechanism is disclosed indetail in our Patent No. 2,152,914, dated April 4, 1939, of which thisapplication constitutes a division.

Pushing the knob toward the dash serves to establish the transmission inreverse gear, assuming that the knob has been rotated counterclockwise.In this operation, the cable B8 is placed in compression to againoperate the valve within the motor 10 and to again energize the latterto move the crank 31 counterclockwise. The shift rail I3 is thus movedto the right to place the transmission in reverse gear.

It will be obvious that the above-described operation of the motor willbe duplicated in placing the transmission either in second or high gear,when the knob 48 is rotated clockwise to place Ythe pin 4B in one or theother of channels 16` and 18 and then is either pushed toward thedashboard or pulled toward the driver. In this operation, the end I6 ofthe selector member I4 is moved into registry with the second and highgear shift rail I2, this being followed by an angular movement of saidmember to place the transmission in gear.

There is thus provided a dash-mounted manually operable selector for rstselecting the gear shift rail of the transmission to be operated andthen effecting a movement of the rail to establish the gear setting.

Our invention is, however, directed solely to the means, consisting ofthe cranks 36 and 31 and the mechanism mounted within the projection 24of the transmission casing, for first selecting a shifter bar to beactuated and then moving the selected bar to establish the transmissionin the desired gear ratio. As hereinbefore stated, this part of thetransmission operating means, with its relatively short cranks 36 and31, cooperates well with a manually operated selector mounted within thedrivers compartment, said selector and the force transmitting meanssecured thereto serving rst to actuate the crank 36 for eiecting aselection of the rail to be actuated and then serving to operate a valvefor controlling the operation of the power means, which actuates thecrank 31 to complete the operation of the transmission.

While one illustrative embodiment has been described, it is not ourintention to limit the scope of the invention to that particularembodiment, or otherwise than by the terms of the appended claim.

We claim:

In combination with a pair of shift rails for actuating a mechanism toestablish four different gear ratios in a transmission, of means forselecting one or the other of said rails to be moved and then bodilymoving the selected rail either forwardly or backwardly to establish thetransmission in gear, said means comprising a shift rail operatingshaft, a circumferentially grooved selector member mounted on said shaftand movable in one manner to bring a portion of said selector memberinto Contact with one or the other of said shift rails and in anothermanner to eiTect a movement of the selected shift rail, lever meanscooperating with said selector member comprising a rotatable shaftjournaled in opposite sides of the Ycasing of the transmission andhaving the greater part of its length Iextending into the casing and alesser part extending outside the casing, a crank connected to said lastnamed part, a pair of lever arms connected with said first named partlwithin the casing, pins formed on said arms and operable within thegroove of said selector member for moving the latter upon movementl ofsaid crank, and a crank secured to the shift rail operating shaft andserving when rotated to rotate said shaft to establish the transmissionin gear.

. HAROLD W. PRICE.

EARL R. PRICE.

